DeadWorld
by Soultra
Summary: Vegeta finds himself on a haunted planet. (I originally rated this PG, but was told that it was far too scary for just PG I don't know.)


**DEADWORLD**

The lush, green landscape that stretched out before him was merely a façade. Beneath this vibrant mirage, he knew this world was dead. The brightly colored wildflowers in the field before him were no more than a funeral shroud: the tall buildings of the nearby city no more than tombstones. All one had to do was to listen to the pervasive quiet to know that they were in the presence of death. No birds sang and no animals scurried in the underbrush. Not even a breeze whispered through the trees. It was just deathly quiet.

Vegeta was standing beside his space pod, looking out across the land. His unease coiled his stomach into tight knots as acids rose thickly in his throat. Something was wrong with this planet, he knew that much, yet he was unaccustomed to feeling so nervous. Maybe it was the quiet that was causing his unease.

He looked upward, as if he could see Frieza's ship above his head, but he knew that he could not. This planet had a high amount of magnetic energy, which could render a larger ship powerless. It had been dangerous enough for his tiny space pod. This magnetic energy also caused scouters to malfunction, so all communication was impossible. Hoping against hope, he tried his anyhow but found it was indeed useless. Sighing loudly, he tossed the scouter back into his space pod.

Frieza had learned of this planet only recently and, at first, it looked like a dream come true for the ruthless tyrant. This was a world with abundant resources, beautiful rural areas, and a few well-developed cities. Besides, the indigenous dwellers were a pacifist society so there would be no trouble in gaining control. At least that was the thought at the time.

It was decided that the overtaking of this planet would be a good training exercise for some of the new recruits since there was little to no danger. Soon, a small troop of soldiers was assembled for this mission. They set out for the planet as planned, no one really concerned about their well-being. However, they were never heard from again.

This was distressing to Frieza only in that there was no explanation to the missing soldiers. He decided to send a small group of more powerful and experienced warriors to investigate. They too disappeared without a trace.

By now Frieza was outraged for it seemed that someone on the planet was resisting his forces. He decided the time to come to be serious and ordered Vegeta and Nappa to continue with the investigation and, if needed, eradication of the enemy. However, Nappa was already away on another assignment, so it was decided that Vegeta would travel alone.

Truth be known, Vegeta somewhat preferred to travel solo and he was not concerned as to what he would find waiting for him. He understood the chain of power well, and knew that all the warriors that had gone before him had been far weaker than him. He doubted that this assignment would be much of a challenge, but his confidence had slowly begun to ebb away the moment he had landed on this dead world. He couldn't say exactly why he felt the way he did nor could he deny the feeling completely. All he knew was that something was wrong here.

He stood there for a few more minutes, knowing that he was procrastinating but feeling helpless to stop. Finally, he decided that the nearby city would probably be the best place to start so, after a deep breath, quickly flew off in that direction.

There hadn't been any recent battles in the city. He knew the telltale signs of a struggle, but saw none here. There were no charred areas caused by ki blasts nor was there any rubble. In fact, the city looked like everything was perfectly in place – almost like the set of play just waiting for the actors to arrive. He shuddered involuntarily.

To his left, he saw a strange building, which consisted of 3 cylinder shapes buildings connected, setting upon a small hill. For some reason, he felt drawn towards the odd structure and started down the long narrow drive that led to it. Perhaps here he would find some answers.

The double doors in front were not locked, as if waiting for someone to enter. Shaking his head as if trying to physically dispel his fear, he walked into the dimly lit hallway and started aimlessly to the left. The circular hallway led past several rooms, which held desks and chairs and Vegeta assumed that this had been an educational facility of some sort. Considering the size of the chairs, it was probably meant for teenagers or adults.

He finally came to another set of double doors and ended his revolution around the first hallway as he entered the middle of the cylinders. This room was very large and appeared to be the dining area. Again, Vegeta was struck by the unreality of the situation. When a place was abandoned, people grabbed belongings recklessly which left an area messy and undone. Yet, this was not the case. This room looked neat and tidy, yet it was not immaculate. Some of the chairs were pushed away from the tables as if someone had recently been sitting there and one chair had even been knocked over. On the floor, there were scuffmarks, so it was obvious that someone had been there at one time. Of course the question was when and where were they now. "Hello?" he called aloud, but there was no response. He hadn't really expected one, but he had to break this blasted silence somehow.

There was another set of double doors to his left as well as another straight ahead. Without thinking, he turned left and continued searching the building. This part was much the same, except it had steps leading to an upper portion. Without pausing, Vegeta walked upstairs.

There were more rooms upstairs and the door to one lay open, beckoning Vegeta to enter. This must have been some sort art room as many pictures were displayed about the rooms. Vegeta walked through the first group of drawings, which depicted some sort of plant, marveling at the wide range of talent. At the end, there were two pictures that really caught Vegeta's eye.

The first picture was a beautiful rendering of a woman picking up a small child. The child was laughing; it's plump arms reaching towards the woman who smiled lovingly. A mother and child perhaps? Vegeta couldn't help but wonder if the inhabitants of this planet had looked like the woman and child in the picture, who had light blue skin and white-blonde hair. He didn't know and it was doubtful now if he would ever know.

The final picture was disturbing and scared Vegeta more than he cared to admit. The artist had blackened almost the entire image except for a tiny vertical bar and two eyes, which seemed to glow. The tiny bar looked like a sliver of light falling into a dark room, revealing a tiled floor and what appeared to be a door. Upon the floor, a tiny puddle of water had gathered and Vegeta could almost hear the steady drip, drip, drip. Above the puddle, a single clawed hand grasped the door. This creature's hands were gnarled, the knuckles disproportionately large within the sinewy fingers. The nails were claws, long and unspeakably old. They were cracked and blackened with age, but still razor sharp. It was the owner of this hand whose eyes glowed in the darkness – malevolently. Smiling.

Vegeta jumped back as the picture suddenly came to life within his mind, although the images on paper were not moving. The steady drip came once again, but it was no longer alone. There was also the steady rasp of the creatures breathing as well as the whisper of its claws upon the door. Beneath the claws, which were stained with ancient blood, were pieces of hair and rotten flesh that filled the room with a pungent stink. The creature smiled openly, its teeth flashing in the light. More hair and flesh clung to its teeth and the saliva with strung from its open jaws.

Vegeta turned his head away quickly and turned his attention to the comforting image of the mother and child, but it too had come to life within him. The child was looking at him; its smile revealing the massive fangs it possessed. When the woman picked up the child, it would use those fangs to tear away the tender flesh of her pale blue neck and then laugh as it squished her blood through its chubby fingers. He could hear its laugher ringing like a mangled bell.

He ran away from the pictures, not daring to look at the others convinced he would vomit. Rushing into the room across the hall, which happened to be a restroom, he leaned over a glistening white sink as he was overcome by dry heaves. His stomach convulsed painfully for several minutes, but at least he was not going to vomit. Finally, the heaves passed.

He turned on the faucet and the water thankfully rushed out cold and clear. He wanted to take a drink, but realized it was risky so instead he splashed the water in his face. After taking a couple more deep breaths, he rose up and found himself staring into a mirror above the sink. His reflection was pale, but there were bright red splotches of his cheeks, as if he was running a fever. His eyes stared back at him, uncommonly large and glazed. He had to stifle a scream when the lights suddenly went out.

Breathing deeply, he tried to calm himself. After all, who knows how long this planet had been abandoned so it should be no surprise that the power had ceased to function. There was a soft noise behind, whispering across the tiled floor, which was louder than his calming thoughts. Slowly, Vegeta turned around.

Darkness spread around him like a veil. Only a tiny beam of light, from the hallway no doubt, managed to pierce through the darkness. To Vegeta's horror, but not really surprise, he realized that this narrow sliver of light revealed the corner of a stall door, and the tiled floor where a tiny puddle of water had gathered. Just as before, he could hear the dripping water and his heart now beat in rhythm. Drip. Beat. Drip. Beat. Drip. Beat. He was convinced his heart was going to leap from his chest, as he heard the soft whispers of clawed feet upon the tiled floor.

There was a soft, whimpering noise and it took Vegeta a few minutes to realize that it was coming from him. Slowly, the creature came closer, placing one gnarled hand complete with hideous claws upon the door. Its yellow, glowing eyes were focused upon the Saiyan Prince and smiled even more than before. It either laughed or roared, and saliva sprayed unto Vegeta, who winced at the rancid smell of rotten flesh. There were pieces of skin and hair in the saliva and now plastered unto his face and in his hair. Again, he was convinced he would vomit, but the urge ended when the creature stepped forward.

He leaned away, his back against the sink. Never could he remember being so terrified or feeling so helpless. The creature took another shuffling step towards him, and Vegeta saw the open square of light from the doorway. If he aimed it just right, he had a chance of making it past the monster and out the door. It was a slim chance, but the best he had for the moment. He flew past the creature faster than he could ever remember flying. Just as he thought he was in the clear, the creature swat at him with its right hand, ripping his arm with its razor-sharp claws.

Vegeta was thrown off-course and slid into the hallway and back into the art room. Blood poured freely from his left upper arm and he was surprised to see that with a single swat the creature had cut his arm, muscle and nerves, all the way to the bone. The creature roared again and started towards the art room. He decided not to wait around as he turned and flew through a set of long windows, the broken shards of glass imbedding into his already torn shoulder. Vegeta winced, but dared not pause as he hurried back to his space pod. 

For the first few horrible minutes as he calculated his pod's departure, he was convinced that he would not be able to get off the planet. The monster would stop him, or perhaps the planet itself. Maybe the planet _was_ the monster, he thought as he desperately punched the buttons. He didn't breath a sigh of relief unto the planet was only a distant sight below him.

Shame began to creep in slowly as he began to berate himself. Why had he run from the creature? Was he not stronger? A single blast could have taken care of this creature with ease, but he couldn't convince himself of that. A small part of him was already convinced that nothing he could have done could have actually have harmed the creature. "He's the stuff that nightmares are made of," Vegeta said softly to himself, his haunted tone echoing within the confines of the space pod.

**********

Thunder rumbled noisily in the distance, but inside of Capsule Corp it deathly quiet. Sitting in the darkened room was Bulma, Goku, Gohan, Goten, Trunks, Mr. and Mrs. Briefs, and Yamcha. They were having a party of sorts when the electricity had suddenly went out, thanks to the electric storm. No one now was even sure who's idea it had been to tell stories until the electricity came back on, but after Vegeta's story, that didn't so important any more.

"What happened after that?" Bulma finally asked.

Vegeta shrugged. "I told them the planet was deserted. There was some big mining operation that went in to get the natural resources but there were several freak accidents. After almost half the miners died in one bizarre way or another, the mining operation was shut down. Several other groups tried to live there, but they either left abruptly or disappeared all together. Last I heard it's been abandoned."

Silence followed once more for several minutes. Yamcha broke the silence this time with a small, nervous laugh. "You just made that up didn't you?"

Vegeta gazed at him coolly but didn't respond verbally. This seemed to annoy Yamcha even more. "There's no way that can be true," he continued, his voice rising, "You had to make it all up."

The others expected Vegeta to get mad at the accusation, but he seemed nonplussed by Yamcha's outburst. "Believe what you want," he said simply, and left the room. Once he was gone, Yamcha looked around the room as if searching for support.

"There's no way that can be true," he insisted, "Right guys? It can't be true, right?"

The only answer was the rumbling of thunder in the distance.

The End.


End file.
